AGRAVIS crop protection warehouse in Cloppenburg expands storage area

The requirements made of AGRAVIS Raiffeisen AG as a powerful partner within agriculture are constantly becoming more stringent. Now even the AGRAVIS crop protection warehouse in Cloppenburg, Industriezubringer 32–38, is being prepared for future challenges: the warehouse capacity is being expanded from 316 to 1,139 tonnes via a state-of-the-art annex to the site. The new building was officially opened on 10 March.

"Experience shows that the markets function where availability is guaranteed. The new crop protection warehouse in Cloppenburg has a storage capacity of over 1,100 tonnes and means we are even better positioned in one of our core regions in Lower Saxony. However, the expanded storage capacity – in connection with our product and market know-how – will also provide new opportunities across different sectors for remaining able to deliver and compete throughout the entire crop protection season with regard to important products", underlined Hans-Georg Bruns, Deputy Member of the Executive Board of AGRAVIS Raiffeisen AG, in his speech. He also welcomed Cloppenburg's mayor Dr. Wolfgang Wiese as a guest to the opening.

The state-of-the-art industrial building is perfectly suited to future challenges. Warehouse capacities have been almost tripled due to a large-scale annex featuring four building sections connected to the previous site. "This expansion and increased capacity means that we are even better positioned within the region of Lower Saxony. Our customers will realise that our delivery capacity is substantially stronger", explained Franz Kruse, sales manager for AGRAVIS Raiffeisen AG in Cloppenburg.

Planning and implementation of the new building was carried out by the Construction division within AGRAVIS. A team of six people on site under the leadership of branch manager Bernd Pusch handles everything regarding the commissioning of goods and all logistics procedures.

When taking handling volumes into consideration, the location in Cloppenburg was far too small. "Handling goods is far more efficient after the rebuild", explained Markus Menne, Head of Logistics at AGRAVIS Raiffeisen AG. The new Hall 5 has impressive dimensions: the new annex covers an area of 974 m². This new, large hall has a ceiling height of ten metres and can be seen from afar. A total of 1,566 Euro pallets or 1,049 industrial pallets can be stored on the high racks. Alongside a new, automatic CO2 extinguishing system, the warehouse also has several features that enhance safety such as a gas detection system, an intrusion detection system, fire water retention facilities, and direct connections to both the fire brigade and the local police station.

In terms of energy efficiency, everything is state-of-the-art. For example, an intelligent LED lighting system was installed along with motion sensors. This system allows for individual storage aisles to be illuminated and the light intensity to be adjusted depending on current conditions. "If it is sunny, the LEDs dim down to a pre-programmed level of light intensity", described Menne. The logistics division also uses modern technology with regard to storage equipment: four state-of-the-art order pickers are now in use. "They are equipped with the most recent battery technology, which means: shorter loading cycles and lower energy consumption", he described.

There are 15 crop protection warehouses within AGRAVIS Raiffeisen AG. When calculated together, the crop protection warehouse locations have 12,000 tonnes of storage capacity and form the largest available storage capacity within the German wholesale agricultural market. The warehouses are service providers for the producing industry and also for the trade. Depending on the warehouse location, customers are delivered up to a radius of approx. 70 kilometres.